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Ulukhaktok

Ulukhaktok, NWT, incorporated as a hamlet in 1984, population 402 (2011c), 398 (2006c). The Hamlet of Ulukhaktok is located on the west coast of Victoria Island, on inlets of Amundsen Gulf, 925 air km north of Yellowknife.

Ulukhaktok, NWT, incorporated as a hamlet in 1984, population 402 (2011c), 398 (2006c). The Hamlet of Ulukhaktok is located on the west coast of Victoria Island, on inlets of Amundsen Gulf, 925 air km north of Yellowknife. The area is the ancestral homeland of the Copper Inuit. Vilhjalmur Stefansson was the first person to make contact with the Inuit in 1911. First established in 1940 as a Hudson's Bay Co trading post, Ulukhaktok first was named from nearby Holman Island, which in turn was named for John R. Holman, a member of the Inglefield arctic expedition (1853-54). In 2006 the name, was changed to its traditional name Ulukhaktok (Inuktitut for "where there is material for ulus").

The hamlet is famous as the home of Holman Eskimo Co-operative (formed in 1961), which sells Inuit prints around the world. The Inuit were first taught to make prints by Father Henri Tardy, an Oblate who settled in the area in 1948. Although the Inuit residents trap, hunt, fish and seal, printmaking has become the major source of income. Famous Ulukhaktok artisans include Helen Kalvak, Agnes Nanogak and Elsie Klengenberg.

North of the Arctic Circle, Ulukhaktok takes advantage of the continual sunlight in the summer by hosting each July a 3-day, 24-hour golf tournament on North America's most northerly golf course.